What if the Third Reich had managed to defeat the USSR? How would the US and Great Britain have reacted? What would have happened to Europe if Hitler and his evil minions had gotten the change to pursue their mad schemes to Germanize the Continent?

If after an uneasy truce the war had reignited, but with the vastly more powerful weapons of the late 1950s replacing the Me-109s and Spitfires? These are a few of the questions that are examined in this landmark work.
Starting with an overview of the world leading up to the resumption of all-out war between the Allies and Nazi state, we see the all-too possible results of the Nazi Party in control of Europe for an additional decade and longer. This is followed by a detailed examination of the tactics and politics that might well have resulted in a WWII far more destructive than what was experienced in our time.

Written in the style of an actual history of the War done years after its conclusion, Festung Europa approaches one of the great "What Ifs" of alternate history in a unique manner.

A rather horrific 'what if?' story playing with the idea of what would have happened if the Nazi's crazy plans played out slightly better just before and during Operation Barbarosa.

5/5 for me.

There is also the 'improved, revised, and extended' version available on Amazon

Edit by Minion:
This is a border case - but the library is dedicated to stories which are available free of charge.
I keep the Amazon link for now, though only as small postscriptum, and the issue will be discussed and addressed by the staff.

When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why god? Why me?" and the thundering voice of God answered, "There's just something about you that pisses me off."

When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why god? Why me?" and the thundering voice of God answered, "There's just something about you that pisses me off."

Is the amazon version worth (i.e. significant changes instead of minor fixes) the $7? I'm a college student, so money isn't exactly abundant in my life...

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Honestly, I've never read the Amazon edition, I only know about it from when the author talked about it once. I do know it is suppose to be the final extended version. Still, it might be just better to just stick to the free PDF as even the PDF version is long and of great quality reading.

I think think this line can serve as an excellent example: "It is remarkable, especially to those of us who have become accustomed to the suddenness and extreme violence of current American and Commonwealth military interventions in Asia and Africa, where the Western forces arrive, obliterate their armed opposition, leave after placing an acceptable local leader in control"

Also it totally defangs the Nazis. They are essentially a punching bag. They never figure out radar, even after having something like 200k pow's who they presumably didn't interrogate. Constantly use outdated technology, even though they enjoy relative peace which would allow for continued development. And continually order blind attacks without even trying to gain any tactical information.

It sort of made me feel that Zapp Brannigan was in charge of the nazi forces.

While it is cathartic to read about Nazis getting the shit kicked out of them, when I hear that a story features a Nazi Germany that has beaten the Soviets I sort of expect more. Nazis with the resources of russia at their disposal should be a terrifying foe, not just something to be swatted aside whenever US gets around to it.

Overall I think the author was too hell bent on keeping the chain of events that lead to victory during WW2 and didn't put in enough though what the world would actually be like if the Nazis had won in the east.

P.S. Also every time something positive about the Royal Navy/Air Force was said a line about how much superior the American forces fallowed.

"It is remarkable, especially to those of us who have become accustomed to the suddenness and extreme violence of current American and Commonwealth military interventions in Asia and Africa, where the Western forces arrive, obliterate their armed opposition, leave after placing an acceptable local leader in control"

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Man, that's a painful sentence. Is it even longer, or is the initial remark dropped?

Lead designer of Erebus in the Balance, a balancing and playability modmod for Fall From Heaven 2, the award-winning dark fantasy mod for Civilization 4​

I think think this line can serve as an excellent example: "It is remarkable, especially to those of us who have become accustomed to the suddenness and extreme violence of current American and Commonwealth military interventions in Asia and Africa, where the Western forces arrive, obliterate their armed opposition, leave after placing an acceptable local leader in control"

Also it totally defangs the Nazis. They are essentially a punching bag. They never figure out radar, even after having something like 200k pow's who they presumably didn't interrogate. Constantly use outdated technology, even though they enjoy relative peace which would allow for continued development. And continually order blind attacks without even trying to gain any tactical information.

It sort of made me feel that Zapp Brannigan was in charge of the nazi forces.

While it is cathartic to read about Nazis getting the shit kicked out of them, when I hear that a story features a Nazi Germany that has beaten the Soviets I sort of expect more. Nazis with the resources of russia at their disposal should be a terrifying foe, not just something to be swatted aside whenever US gets around to it.

Overall I think the author was too hell bent on keeping the chain of events that lead to victory during WW2 and didn't put in enough though what the world would actually be like if the Nazis had won in the east.

P.S. Also every time something positive about the Royal Navy/Air Force was said a line about how much superior the American forces fallowed.

Man, that's a painful sentence. Is it even longer, or is the initial remark dropped?

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Given WW2 in real life was an America wank, what do you expect?

As for that line, well yeah, that's what happens when your nation won a a WW2 that was a dozen times more horrific than real life. They see the Nazis as a case of allowing a problem to grow too big and now treat every possible threat as the next Nazi Germany.

And I'm not sure how you can say the Nazi's never figured out radar. It's on page 23 of the PDF version of the story. As for defanging that Nazis, they killed 4 million Commonwealth and US troops in a 9 month campaign. The technology they used was outdated for good reason; the Nazis in real life despised nearly any scientific research that didn't immediately have a potential military use while the US dumped enormous amounts of money into anything and everything that held even the faintest glimmer that it might have a military use in the future. By the end of WW2 in real life the Nazis were hedging their bets on gimmick weapons.

By the time of the invasion of Europe (1956?) Hitler had cleaned out any of the non-fanatical officers in the military. All that was left were officers who truly believed that the 'superior Aryan' would overcome the 'Jewish backed' Western Allies through sheer genetic superiority. Nearly all of the enlisted soldiers at that point knew nothing but a Germany ruled by Hitler. Those action were no different than any other fanatical army who only knew their dictator (Imperial Japan, communist China etc).

Simply having an area at your disposal doesn't get you advanced weapons. It takes brilliant minds and research to get there. And, again, the Germans squandered any raw materials they got from Eastern Europe on their Atlantic Wall (another gimmick).

Even Nazi Germany couldn't survive long term several dozen nukings, followed by one of the most horrific bio-warfare attacks ever dreamed up by human minds.

The technology they used was outdated for good reason; the Nazis in real life despised nearly any scientific research that didn't immediately have a potential military use while the US dumped enormous amounts of money into anything and everything that held even the faintest glimmer that it might have a military use in the future. By the end of WW2 in real life the Nazis were hedging their bets on gimmick weapons

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Yes this happened in real life, but in real life the nazis were loosing the war rather badly for several years while at the same time being hard pressed for resources. That is not the case in this story they are at relative peace and just decide to abandon all progress. A good example of that is the rocketry program which was the one area where allies couldn't compete, but gets completely abandoned.

By the time of the invasion of Europe (1956?) Hitler had cleaned out any of the non-fanatical officers in the military. All that was left were officers who truly believed that the 'superior Aryan' would overcome the 'Jewish backed' Western Allies through sheer genetic superiority.

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Yea how long would that last after continued defeats. Loosing something like 600 planes on a suicide attack on the US is the sort of thing that would get people thinking. While they might actually be brainwashed enough that they would think Hitler faultless in this, there is no way they would feel the same about Goering.

Anyways I feel stupid for arguing this. The thing I dislike the most about the fic was that it playd out as real history did. With the removal of Soviet Union from the war and the millions upon millions of men they were constantly throwing at the Nazis the war should have been different.

Yes this happened in real life, but in real life the nazis were loosing the war rather badly for several years while at the same time being hard pressed for resources. That is not the case in this story they are at relative peace and just decide to abandon all progress. A good example of that is the rocketry program which was the one area where allies couldn't compete, but gets completely abandoned.

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I have trouble believing you read the story when you say that rocketry gets abandoned, because it clearly wasn't.

Like when they used V rockets to nerve gas London?

Yea how long would that last after continued defeats. Loosing something like 600 planes on a suicide attack on the US is the sort of thing that would get people thinking. While they might actually be brainwashed enough that they would think Hitler faultless in this, there is no way they would feel the same about Goering.

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Germans and Japanese both kept fighting despite defeat staring them in the face in real life. It's really not ridiculous. You also seem to forget this is a country where the media is tightly controlled; they can easily report that New York was in flames in exchange for the bombers and that it was a worthwhile sacrifice.

It was also only 50 planes.

Anyways I feel stupid for arguing this. The thing I dislike the most about the fic was that it playd out as real history did. With the removal of Soviet Union from the war and the millions upon millions of men they were constantly throwing at the Nazis the war should have been different.

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It didn't play out like history at all. This world is completely unrecognizable to the one we know.

The soviet Union is a shell of it's former self and has descended into several warring states, London and several other British cities are gassed with nerve agents, France is decimated by Nazi bioweapons, Germany is decimated by British bioweapons followed up by several dozen multi-megaton nuclear bombings, Japan was starved out and is little better than an OTL 3rd-world country, a good chunk of Europe hates the Allies for using nuclear weapons, gas and large-scale strategic bombing on their soil, Australia and Canada are nuclear powers, Poland - having been stripped of nearly every Pole - is the new Jewish homeland, and the world is divided up between five superpowers - the A4 (Atomic Four, comprised of the US, UK, Canada and Australia) and India.

Did you even read the story or did you just decided to spew garbage and hope it sticks?